Nordhoff Takes Another Run at Oak Park Boys

Oak Park High and Nordhoff, boys’ cross-country programs with vastly different championship histories, meet for the third time this season when the Southern Section final is held at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut on Saturday morning.

Oak Park, the top-ranked Division IV team in the section, will be looking for its first section title with No. 2 Nordhoff going for its eighth of the decade.

Oak Park defeated Nordhoff for the Ventura County title at Lake Casitas on Oct. 29 and finished a spot ahead of the third-place Rangers in the Division IV sweepstakes race of the Mt. SAC Invitational a week earlier.

But Coach Kevin Smith of Oak Park has said all season that the section and state championships are the meets that count.

“This is what it’s all about,” Smith said. “To be in this position and running against a team like Nordhoff is a lot of fun. I have enormous respect for [Coach Ken Reeves of Nordhoff] and we’re good friends.”

Oak Park will be led by junior Mark Nevers, senior Erik Wackenstedt and sophomore Chase Ferrell, who placed 1-2-3 in their qualifying heat of the section preliminaries last week.

Nordhoff, two-time defending state Division IV champion, will counter with a deep squad that will try to put all seven of its runners ahead of Oak Park’s No. 5 man.

Four other teams and six individuals from the region are expected to contend for section titles in the meet that starts at 7:45 a.m.

The top six teams in Division I and the top four teams in divisions II-V will advance to the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 27. So will the top five individuals among the top 20 finishers not on a qualifying team.

Lancaster Desert Christian and defending state champion Flintridge Prep are expected to battle for the boys’ Division V team title with junior Tom Kubler of Viewpoint the overwhelming favorite.

La Canada could have three winners.

Senior Ryan Burnett is a co-favorite in the Division III boys’ race, junior Nicole Bonino is defending Division III girls’ champion and the Spartans are favored to win their second consecutive team title.

Nordhoff is an underdog to defending champion Corona del Mar in the Division IV girls’ race, but the Rangers beat the Sea Queens for the state title last year. Rae Stumbough of Nordhoff is one of the individual favorites.

Junior Anita Siraki of Hoover is favored in the Division I race and junior Laura Jakosky of Agoura is shooting for her second consecutive Division II championship.

The Monroe boys’ team and junior Natalie Stein of North Hollywood could be the top performers from the San Fernando Valley in the City finals at Pierce College on Saturday morning.

Monroe won its qualifying heat in the section preliminaries at Pierce on Nov. 10, but the Vikings will be decided underdogs to four-time defending champion Belmont.

Stein placed first in her preliminary heat, but UCLA-bound Valerie Flores of San Pedro is favored to win her second consecutive title after running a course record of 17:34 over Pierce’s three-mile layout last week.

The top two teams in each race will advance to the state championships, as will the top five individuals among the top 12 finishers not on a qualifying team.

The meet will start at 8 a.m. with the girls’ freshman-sophomore race.

The girls’ varsity race is scheduled for 10 with the boys’ at 10:30.